Blue Jackets 3 – Kings 1: Don’t Read This Post Game. You May Not Like It

Karma is a misunderstood term. I have heard many “modern” definitions of it. One variation (which I believe is incorrect) is if you do good things, good things happen to you. Do bad and bad happens. This definition is an adaptation of “what goes around, comes around.”

You don’t have to believe in any of that to feel how I do.

I am upset the L.A. Kings lost because I am a Die-Hard King fan. I love this team.

I am also happy for Jack Johnson, the fact he had a solid game, finished with the game winning goal and was a +2. I am a Jack Johnson fan. I see a ceiling some don’t. I see an all-star in a couple of seasons. Defensemen take longer? Jack will epitomize that statement. My opinion. Yours may differ.

I am happy the Columbus Blue Jackets offered to their fans the chance to change their “Carter” jersey nameplate with a “Johnson” at no charge. That is a cool thing to do for a small fan base. It has a down-home, country & Ohio feel to it.

I can “balance” the perspective of the loss with the above bigger picture, non-fanatic positives and still be angry we lost.

I am content if this game caused Dean Lombardi grief. You may not understand.

As for the game, it was simple. The Columbus Blue Jackets played better. Their aggressive forecheck and simple net attack kept the Kings on their heels. We were fortunate we didn’t go down 3-0 in the first 10 minutes. The Blue Jackets came out ready from the puck drop. We did not. Jeff Carter was meh. Did he have a shot on goal? If so, I didn’t see it. I did see his “whiff”. He should have been better. He is Dean Lombardi’s hail mary and dropped the ball tonight. Kopitar played well. Penner used his size. If everyone showed up tonight like Dustin Brown did, we would have won this game.

Some may advocate we should chalk this game up to “oh well, you can’t win them all.” When on the outside of the top 8 looking in, that is a dangerous perspective.

I will finish with Jack’s quote:

“This one felt good. This has been a really great change for me. I’ve been excited to come to the rink every day. These guys here have a blast here at the rink and it’s carrying over onto the ice. Guys are loose and having fun. That’s what this game is supposed to be all about.”

This isn’t a condemnation of the L.A. Kings. The Blue Jackets are at the bottom of the league. They won’t make the playoffs. They play the role of the spoiler. That is rewarding in its own way. That is fun. But having fun and being loose while playing spoiler or for pride doesn’t win championships and I hope Jack soon feels the pressure and intensity of competing for the playoffs. I want that for him.

This game just shows how out of touch Lombardi hockey is to today’s game.

Jack will have a great NHL career and I would still make that trade. Voynov needed a top 4 roster spot and the kings needed another top six forward.

Notice how jack wasn’t glued to the blue line on the pp? Jackets had 5 shots on their first pp and the kings had zero. Which team activates their defensemen?

Lebrun is supposed to have an article with Johnson and jack talks about how the kings restrict their players with their system. I can’t wait to read his quotes. He loved his teammates but wasn’t happy with the style.

Well said! I personally can’t wait for DL and his pathetic, stiffling system is told to fuck off. Once he is gone and our VERY skilled players are allowed to be creative and have some fun on the ice again the Kings WILL be a force, first though maybe it is a good thing if the Kings miss the playoffs so it ensures his job is as good as gone.

No, I still like Voynov more than Jack. Jack will still make a ton of mistakes in Columbus when they are actually playing for a playoff position instead of how they are playing now. Jack is still a PP specialist. Kings couldn’t finish last night or Jack

How many teams win a bunch of games once they are eliminated from the playoffs? Teams play different when the pressure to win is gone.

With all of the defensemen that Dean has drafted, eventually one of them had to be traded for a top 6 winger. It turned out to be Jack.

Do you really think that Doughty won’t flourish when Lombardi hockey is gone from LA? Do you really think that Jack is better than Doughty? The Kings needed another top 6 winger and they weren’t going to get it from the UFA ranks. You have to give to get and Jack was expendable.

Jack is just another player in a long line of former players that flourish once leaving Lombardi-hockey. Can anyone really be surprised?

… Well, Jack DID say that his game was changed by the Kings, and with the Jackets he’s able to play a style that’s more natural for him. Take from that what you will, but I thought it said a lot about what the philosophy of hockey is, here. I do remember hearing Ian Laperriere, in the season he scored 20 goals with Colorado, talking about how the Andy Murray-led Kings didn’t allow him to play, had him shackled, etc. Sounded all too familiar.

“Some may advocate we should chalk this game up to “oh well, you can’t win them all.””

… I don’t see how anything else makes sense when it comes to talking about this game. It’s looked like a lot of other games this season: get chances, bad bounces, can’t convert, shanking shots, breaking sticks, misfired passes on breakouts, other team gets good bounces, broken plays turn into great chances from the slot, too much line mixing and guys not being familiar enough with other guys to produce that cohesiveness, too much time in the box and not enough time on the PP, an attitude of being afraid to screw up rather than one of being aggressive, etc etc etc. I know that song very well. I could have sworn Terry Murray was behind the bench today.

Just gotta chalk it up to it being the Jackets’ night, and move on. If the Kings don’t put this one behind themselves, they’re of no use to anyone in Detroit tomorrow. There’s still more hockey to play.

I’m bummed we lost, but I’m also happy for Jack. It’s great that he put in the game winning goal; a final “fuck you” to Lombardi. Anyone else feel uneasy about the offseason? I have a feeling DL will still be here, and fuck things up; like trading Brown.

… I think one of the things some fans do is that they project negative quotes about a coach or a team on themselves, and kind of lump it all into a “he bashed L.A.! that SOB” kind of deal. I don’t feel it’s like that, at all. Jack’s got a great attitude, that’s always been the case, and it came through in the 2nd intermission interview with Bob Miller. He seems to be a good-natured and optimistic enough guy, and I highly doubt he’s going to dwell on the bad things or bash L.A. or the fans here.

Many good points above. Yes, Jack deserves credit for his play tonight and he also seemed to give lifts to his teammates too.

I need to rag on Penner, because, he really does not battle competitively for pucks along the boards, where he loses control so often, even to smaller guys. It is inexcusable to see him missing open nets too, for the kind of money being paid. When you boil it down, he is not really presenting himself as a real threat and worry to other teams.

Yes, this game looked like so many this year. When certain fundamentals breakdown then we can see the team just become disorganized, scrambling, and out of synch, both offense and defense. That late 3rd goal seemed to send the Kings into a funk, and then the early penalty at the start of the last period was again spoiling momentum.

The Jackets really out played and took advantage of the home ice for themselves. They did not cough up penalties, as they showed good discipline.

I am baffled why Carter and Richards could not click unless it is the same old system indoctrination crap being dished out to them.

The game could have really turned super ugly but for some great saves by Bernier, where on some occasions there were multiple times pucks coming in from all direction and angles and he got toes or pads or sticks in the way of scores happening.

Lets face it, it was a technical shut out, as all we got was the Kopi short handed goal.

So, 60 minutes of futility and of failing to reach potentials and skill levels these guys are suppose to have.

Also a JMFJ fan…Carter is a good fit..but yhe yrade was heartbreaking as I already said. Happy for JJ to have a good game..show his class by no hits or shoves on his former teammates. We needed to win..reality is setting in that we are running out of time ..I have made myself be positive with my beloved Kings this season..am getting worried now.
GO KINGS GO!!!

There really is something in this point about JJ having fun playing the game. It seems to me that as with anything in life, if you’re having fun at what you do it’s likely to go far better than when one is restricted.

Also, there was a very interesting comment by Ken Hitchcock the other day. I think it was from the 4th period. Anyway he said, ‘play fast and loose on offense and you’ll lose hockey games, play fast and loose on defense and you’ll win hockey games.’
I found that interesting as that’s essentially what Jack feels comfortable with, whereas the Kings don’t (as I see it) play fast and loose on defense. They play too structured it seems.
Don’t get me wrong, structure is super important, but seems that JJ thought it was simply too restrictive.

Wow some people jump off a cliff after one loss. Should you beat the last team in the conference when fighting for the last playoff spot, yes. I want to see how they bounce back tommorow in a building that is hard to win in. I like Jack Johnson, but i think after he got traded people are making him out be the next Ray Bourque…the trade made sense. Richards needs to play alot better, seems to have the puck bounce off his stick alot and mess up plays lately. Either way the kings are making the playoffs this year.

From puckdaddy: ‘Mark Letetstu scored twice, but the game-winner in the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings was scored, poetically, by Jack Johnson. Jeff Carter, meanwhile, was so ineffective it was like he never left .’

Kings are now 1-21-3 when trailing after 2 periods.
That sounds like a team that quits, has no will, and has no compete to get to the next level. When they’re down, they tell the team with their foot on their throats to just end it already, instead of fighting back.

Even if they do make the playoffs, good luck winning a series when they cannot find a way to play from behind.

And while his two goals and one assist in 55 games played isn’t the worst you’ll see on this list—although it’s certainly still a pitiful total—Lewis boasts arguably the most worthless all-around set of statistics.

The 25-year-old Salt Lake City native has, in addition to those three points, a sub-par minus-four rating, a 41.7 faceoff winning percentage and (worst of all) an utterly horrendous 2.5 shooting percentage, the second-worst mark among all 280 forwards playing in the league today.